Stories

We decided to create this page to publish all your stories, so that everybody that reads this blog can learn, not only from what was our journey, but also from yours.

Send us an email to dolly.mukky@gmail.com with attached your story and why not even some pictures. We will publish everything in a post only about you!
You can decide to have it posted with your name or anonymous and, if you want, we will add your email so that any future au pair can contact you.

What are you waiting for?
We are really looking forward to read your story!

Rematch stories are never easy.. sometimes it’s the au pair fault but sometimes not.. Today we want to show you the story of a “not very lucky” girl:

“There are SO MANY reasons why girls or/and host families go into rematch. I agree that sometimes some girls go into rematch for almost “nothing” but if there is something that bothers them, then they totally should go into rematch. It is their year and they want to make the best out of it.
I went into rematch for a few reasons. My first host family was divorced and I was living with the host dad and the 3 kids. He is a doctor.
I skyped with the previous Au Pair (which was very easy going since we both spoke German) and I asked her TONS of questions. Everything that came to my mind.
Little did I know that she was lying from A to Z. About EVERYTHING.
The first shock came directly when I first entered the house. It was not only incredibly messy but it was also VERY VERY dirty. And by dirty I mean stuff like: I couldn’t walk through the living room, I couldn’t use pans or any other stuff in the kitchen because it was filthy, in EVERY rest room nobody was flushing down (yes, I had to throw up right away) and the most incredible thing: My hd was lying about the kids. I asked of course if they have any kind of allergies and so on….
So my 3rd day over there, the little one (6 years) asked me for a Peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Now guess who has a severe allergy to peanuts???? (more…)

In this post we want to focus on the relationship au pair/animals. But what animals are we talking about? Well both pets and wild animals! Let’s analyze them together.

AU PAIR AND PETS
Let’s start by underlining that taking care of pets is not an au pair responsibility.They can’t force you to walk the dog, clean after it, or stay home with it. If they ask you, unless you are agree with it, they should pay you extra money. Taking care of a pet is a big responsibility and often families have any sort of animal: cats, dogs, fishes, guinea pigs, etc.. So before finalizing any match, make sure you know what responsibilities you have towards the pet in order to have zero surprises once there.
To many au pairs that didn’t ask happened to arrive in the family, and maybe during winter, even while it was snowing, they had to go walk the dog. However that wasn’t just an exception, it was the routine! So we can’t complain. (more…)

…how to handle them? We already started talking about this topic with jess, a young girl from Turin that decided to leave even if in love with her boyfriend.
What we do ask today is:

Having a boyfriend can be an obstacle or on the contrary he can be supportive?

Many au pairs find the boyfriend once in the states… Can it be a problem for the host family?

If we have a boyfriend in the USA, how is having to come back in our home country?

We both decided to leave in a moment in which we were single , because due to our characters we think that a boyfriend could be an obstacle for our new life
Mapu thinks that she would be too attached at home and would spend a lot of time calling him instead of focusing in creating a new life.
Susa instead think she wouldn’t be relaxed enough because there is somebody that wants to stay in touch with her and she would have to find time for him. Plus she would miss him and would spend too much time thinking at what he is doing. In her opinion an experience like that doesn’t have to be ruined by somebody that needs attentions.
In general we think that in a moment in which communication, trust or respect from one of the partner is missing, the relationship can’t have a future and you also have to ask yourself if is worth to miss somebody and not being able to fully enjoy this experience.(more…)

Today we want to share with you the saddest story of Karina. Sometimes being an au pair isn’t easy and you should be very lucky to find the right family during the first match. But you should never give up, things can always going better…

Hi kiddo’s, I would like to share my story of my first au pair year. Might be a long story, but I hope you can learn something from it. I was 14 when I decided that I wanted to become an au pair and much more younger when I made up my mind that America was the country of my dreams. I finished college in art, made my hours of experience in my moms daycare and spend all my free time and money to get where I am now: America. I am in my last month of my first year now and looking back on that year I have to say it was a bumpy road. (more…)

Do you have a boyfriend in your home country and do you think that you are not courageous enought to leave to the States because of the distance? Well you should read Jessica’s story!

Hi,
my name is Jessica but here, in America, all people call me Jess.
So, I’m jess, I’m 22 years old and I live in California. I arrived in “Los Gatos” (the name of the city) 4 months ago. This is a beautiful place about 50min to san Francisco and 30 minutes from the beautiful beach of Santa Cruz (I call this place a corner of paradise!
Let’s talk about my experience here!Do you have a boyfriend in your home country and do you think that you are not courageous enought to leave to the States because of the distance? Well you should read Jessica’s story!

My name is Ambre, I’m 22, (I was 20 when I left for the USA, in October 2012).I’m from France and I spent my year as an au pair in Seattle, Washington state. I took care of one girl, she was 3 1/2 when I arrived.

Why have you chosen to be an au pair?

I wanted to be an au pair, because I was very attracted by the USA, and I wanted to improve my english, as all of the other au pair I think But I also wanted to live in another country, to discover my boundaries and what I was able to do. I needed to proof to myself that I was able to live my hometown for a new country and a new family.

Which agency did you use?

I was with Cultural Care Au Pair

Did you feel homesick?

Never. Oh maybe one time, but that was fast. For like 2 days, when my mom and my sister left Seattle, after visiting me. But that’s all

Did your english improve? How good(or bad) is your english when you arrived there?Hi! Can you tell me something about yourself?

My name is Anna, I’m 19 years old and I’m from a little city near Milan. Almost 7 months ago, I left my country, my family and my friends to start an experience that would have changed my life. On July 22nd 2013 I took a flight to New York, to begin my year as an au pair. If you are reading this article, you probably already know what an au pair is, so I won’t write that and the requirements again, what I want to tell you is what an au pair truly is.

The truth is that there are lots of factors that affect our experience. I found an adorable family, they give me everything I need, respect the rules and reward me when I deserve it. I can’t complain about anything, it’s also thanks to them if I’m living this amazing experience!

We interviewed an anonymous au pair who is living in the States since February 2013.

“Hi, where are you from and how old are you?”
I’m from Mexico and I’m 22 years.

“Can you tell us some about your experience?”
Sure, about my story ? Well.. I came to NY on feb 18 I was the second Aupair which was a little bit hard in the beginning, because the girls thought the first one was going to stay forever, so in the beginning they didn’t like me even they were 3 years old it was a little tricky but after 3 months everything went very well , my family is just the best family ever I’m a lucky girl to be with them, i couldn’t be happier.

Being an Aupair was the best experience of my life and know that I’m leaving is so sad I want my girls with me but I’m very happy at the same time to be with my family!
One of the best things was that the first Aupair came to visit us and we became in such a good friends! So for me was very excited to meet all kind of people and exchange cultures!!! (more…)